Chapter 4: Home for the homeless

Entering in Taizé during autumn was both very familiar and very alienating to our experiences in summer. We’ve been to Taizé three times in the last four years, so after a week of wandering and uncertainty, this place really felt like a save haven and a welcome home. We were welcomed by an old friend of Gideon whom he met four years ago in Taizé, and who is now living in the community as a permanent for one year. This surprise meeting was amazing and it was good to update on each others lives for the past years. He told us however that is was not possible for the two of us to share a dorm, or to put up a tent, so for the first time in our married life we had to sleep in separated rooms again. 

The fun of winter-Taizé is that there are only about 50 visitors (as opposed to the 3000 – 5000 visitors in summer), so it is fairly easy so get to speak with every one, and to get to know almost everyone. There was a common room were we had diner together at real tables, and there was hot tea throughout the day. The prayers were much more intimate and the Bible studies were in general more in depth than in summer.

Among the many wonderful people we met those few days was one family from the US, a couple with two kids. They had lived in a community in France for the last year, and they were now, just as we are, traveling through France for the next month or so. There were so many things in which we could relate to each other. They were a real inspiration for us.

After Taizé we continued our journey south, this time towards Lyon. One of France largest cities, which is famous for its good food, or so we learned in Taizé. We got a lot of good suggestions of where to go and where to eat, so we decided to have a real soirée. After a diner in one of the traditional restaurants we went to the cinema to see Fantastic Beasts – the Crimes of Grindelwald. Part of the movie takes place in France, which made it even better to watch it in a French cinema.

Ever since we visited Lyon, our eyes are turned toward the beggars. We saw someone begging in front of the church as well as at other places in the city and it was difficult to walk past them. As long as we know we’ve walked past people who were begging, trying not to look. But this is much more difficult when we try to listen to God. ‘I was hungry and you gave me something to eat,’ Jesus said. So can we look towards God and walk past Jesus?
Back in the Netherlands we already struggled with the question: If we don’t want to ignore these people, then what do we do? In Lyon we talked about this and one thing is sure, we don’t want to ignore and look away anymore, we want to see them as persons. But does giving money really change something? Earlier in the Netherlands, we decided that when we gave money, we would also ask if we can pray for them, because we believe that God can bless them much more than the money can. This resulted in some wonderful encounters. It was good to think back to that.
One reason to pass by people is because we don’t know whether they are honest or not, whether they really need what they ask for or they just want to profit from other peoples good will. But then again, it’s not a reason to ignore people. If we talk to them and ask with what it is we can help them with, rather than just give money directly, people that are not honest are probably less interested in talking to you than people that are in need, they might tell you their story.
Later that night, when we walked back to the car, Gideon mentioned that if we see some people that have to sleep outside because they don’t have a home, we might as well join them, for we don’t have one either. Irma liked that idea and she definitely wanted to get to know these people as persons and to try to relate to them. But the difficulty that rises up is, what then? What do you say after the first 5 minutes. In the end we didn’t see any more people on the street, so we found a nice place outside Lyon to park our car and sleep for that night.

The next day we went to Avignon, which was a beautiful city in which a former palace of the pope is situated. There we saw a woman begging and Irma went up to her. ‘I don’t have any money, but how can I help you?’ She told that she needed some food for her family and her children. Across the street there was a supermarket, so Irma proposed to buy some bread for her. The lady aslo mentioned some other things that she needed and while Gideon stayed outside with her stuff, she and Irma went into the small supermarket. It felt so good to walk around the shop with her and to see her smile when she was thinking of the things that she could buy for her family. But at the same time it was very difficult to decide what to buy, what was really necessary and what wasn’t. In the end Irma spend much more than she intended to, which felt difficult, but the thankful smile and hug the lady gave, were really rewarding. Still we’re struggling with this and because Irma already spent so much we had to walk past others. So next time we’d rather buy something ourselves and give it afterwards. 

Dear readers, if anyone of you can relate to this or if you have other experiences with giving to poor people, we really want to hear your stories and advise.